Off-road legend Brad Gallard etched another notch in his belt over the weekend by winning the fiercely contested Goondiwindi 400 for the second year in a row.
The win signals a return to form for the Trophy Truck champion after battling a series of technical gremlins earlier this year that forced his team to retire from the Finke Desert Race and the Flinders 450.
“We absolutely loved the track; if there was another race here next weekend, we would be back,” said Gallard.
“The faster we went, the better the truck handled it – we just got quicker and quicker.”
The small town of Goondiwindi, 400 kilometres inland on the Queensland-New South Wales border, is host to a track so unpredictable and difficult that veterans of the sport acknowledge it as a tougher test than the fearsome Finke desert race.
Securing back-to-back victories on a course as technical and challenging as the Goondiwindi 400 means Gallard’s new Trophy Truck is finally measuring up to its championship-winning predecessor.
“The reliability is back and so is the pace,” he said.
“We ran all four laps of today’s event on our Toyo’s and they gripped until the end – we couldn’t ask for anything more from them.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that the truck and its tyres should have given out with the treatment I was dishing out, but they’re nearly invincible.
“Even though I pretty much did my best to hurt them – hitting stumps, fence posts, droppers and trees – the tyres didn’t end up with a mark on them!”
Despite a huge accident, 27-year-old engineer Danny Brown still managed to scoop second-in-class honours in his twin-turbocharged V6 Trophy Truck.
In the lead-up to Goondiwindi, Brown was in equal second position in the ARB championship and showing race veterans that youth is no handicap when it comes to ability and consistent pace.
Unfortunately, just metres from the Goondiwindi finish line, a steering failure put him into the scrub.
“We were having a cracking run and were in third place overall, but 100 metres from the finish line the steering column snapped and the truck speared off the track,” he said.
Even though it took more than 15 minutes to limp the last 100 metres to the finish line, Brown said the result could have been much worse.
“Right out the front of the crowd, there’s a huge 40-metre jump – if the steering had gone wrong just 200 metres earlier, things would have been spectacularly bad for all concerned,” he said.
“We’re off to Millicent in early September for the last round of the series, and we’ll be shooting for a top three finish for the championship – maybe even first place, if everything works in our favour.”
The final round of the ARB Australian Off Road Racing Series will be held in Millicent, South Australia on September 7 and 8.
